Flacco wins Super Bowl MVP to join game's elite

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Joe Flacco joined the National Football League's (NFL) elite with a masterful Super Bowl performance on Sunday, leading his Baltimore Ravens to a 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

The 28-year-old quarterback threw three touchdown passes, all in the first half, without any interceptions, en route to capturing the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the NFL's title game.

Flacco completed 22 of 33 passes and threw for 287 yards, but the statistics and the MVP award were perhaps the least of his achievements. More significantly for Flacco, it elevated him to a rarified level where he has long believed he belonged but never quite got there.

"They have to give it to one guy and I'm not going to complain that I got it."

Despite leading the Ravens in each of his five seasons in the NFL, Flacco has remained an underrated and understated playmaker, but no more.

He had said before the playoffs he was among the best quarterbacks in the game and kept true to his word with his flawless showing in the postseason.

During the playoffs, he threw for 11 touchdowns, matching the record set by Hall of Famer Joe Montana (1989) and Kurt Warner (2008) for the most by any player in a single postseason. Flacco also did not throw a single interception.
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